How To Roleplay, An Extensive Guide (made by DragonicFlames on dragcave)

This is something that I did a while about. I had it on a very literate/elite RP forum that I used to own (which I ba-leted due to various reason). I don't know if this should have been in another thread, or if it just plain insulting to Alf to post it here, or if it like pie. I dunno. I figured since this was where all the "tips" were at, then I could post it here. Notice, that a lot of my terms will be contradictory to Alf. Why? I've been rping for about a decade-not DnD just plain ol' typing and loving it. So these are the terms I've used since I started rping.

It's basically a 'how to' guide and my POV on things. It was made to be posted in several different posts so that it's easier to group things together. Ok? Ok. :"D

How to Role Play

Description:
Beginners, Oldbies, and the Curious are always welcome to read, review, and extend their knowledge about Roleplaying.

Please tell me if there is anything else you want explained. And feel free to add on any time. :"D

Chap 1) Moding, Godmoding, and Powerplaying
Chap 2) Character Design
Chap 3) Extending Posts/Lengthing
Chap 4) Entrances (Playwrite (Character Profiles) vs Novelistic)
Chap 5) Fighting
Chap 6) Misc

Introduction

Role playing is very awesome-sauce. I love role playing more than most things, because it gives me practice on my writing skills and basically allows me to wear a mask of someone else to remove either aggression or other feelings that I need to purify myself from. ( You perverts! )However people these days, don't actually have any skill in role playing any more. Why? People have over simplified it. It's almost annoying when I go into an rp and I'm too "good" that I'm not allowed to rp with the people. (Yes, that's happened to me before)

I'm not the best; I am however, one of the better rpers out there. I'm not saying that I'd be able to go one on one in a turn base speed fight. Or any speed fight for that matter. I do believe, though, that I have a better quality of rp. And because of that, my posts become a lot longer.

Words/Acronyms that might be useful when reading this tutorial:

Rping = Role Playing
Mun = The "mundane" or the person playing the character
OOC = Out of Character
IC = In Character
Hit = An attack that damages or "hits" the character
Mun Bubbles/Brackets = Used when OOC; Are these ( ) Or (( )) Or [ ] (where it doesn't mess with the BBcode)
Mary-sue/Gary-stu = A character that is "perfect"
Post = In a forum, it is the complete entry you make on a thread. In a chat, it's each paragraph you enter. Sometimes I accidentally switch, Post and paragraph, it's because I started with chats and moved to forums. Please excuse that.


Let's start off with a grumpy rant!:

I used action brackets. The reason I used action brackets was because well, I like using action brackets. It doesn't mean that I'm any better than anyone else because I use them. It specially doesn't mean that they are n00bish, unless used incorrectly. To me, Action brackets are more "stylish" than leaving them off. But if you feel more comfortable or you have a hard time reading action brackets, that's alright. Just don't expect that I'm going to drop them, I will if you ask me to do so.

Action brackets are these: -= =- or - - or even : : : :, but never * *. The little star things used to symbolize either thoughts or sounds. But I don't like them, and I'm pretty sure, since you probably don't like me using action brackets, that you don't like them either. :3 Action brackets are not used for anything else BUT actions. I'm tired of people who think that : : Means start of whole rping post INCLUDING speech. No. It's for actions and thoughts should be either bolded or italicized (maybe even underlined) which ever is easier. Speak always begins at the second : : (or not. It could be the end of a complete paragraph of action) It may be hard to get it, but after you start reading it, and learning to recognize where everything is at, I'm sure that you'll get a hang on it. So then when you're in a forum and someone else has the same style as me, you'll be able to see and understand what they are doing.

Alright then, I guess I'll move on after explaining that.

And for all you TL;DR-ers:

Overview of lesson:

: : Action here: : Speech here : : action here: :

Chapter 1) Moding, Godmoding, and Powerplaying


There are several things that I hate among all other things in the role-playing world. That would be these things. They happen every day, they happen in every post, and they will not stop happening unless we give the time to attempt to educate people to what they are and why you shouldn't practice them.I'd like to state right here and now, that all of them are extremely rude. We are all trying to rp in the same area. We should all respect each other by not doing these things.

Moding:

My Definition: It is when one character has some sort of unfair advantage. Such as forcing a hit (probably when not warranted and it's executed something like Character 1 hits character 2), blocking someone's attack when you don't have the post length to block it (such as, someone writes five paragraphs of how they attacked you and you simply put up "dodged attack"), or when having been defeated or slain you "resurrect" yourself and thus "win" the fight.

My question to you is, how realistic is this? It's not realistic at all. Sure maybe once in a while, you'll hit your friend and it will take, but they will most definitely fight you back (or at least give you a good punch in the arm). Or for you : : cough: : fighting guys, does your opponent suddenly "spring back up" fully healed after you whipped the snot out of him? I haven't seen this happen, ever. It's ridiculous and shows me that you're too immature to realize that you've been beaten and you should just back down and say you were wrong.

Some examples of this are:

Character 1 (Always the newbie/n00b):

Hits character 2 with sword.


Character 2:

(This post starts before Character 1 attacks, it explains what character 2 was doing before the attack) The other man/woman was standing in front of Character 2. His/her breaths were cold and icy as he glared down upon the other person. It was rather chilly, which would push air into Character 2's face as he judged the distance towards Character 1. With a sigh, he started calculating his next move. (paragraph 1)

Character 2 moved to the right, causing Character 1's eyes to follow (This is typed because Character 2 is extending his post to include what realistically Character 1 might be doing.) character 2's movements. Character 2 could see the glint in Character 1's eyes. Character 1 was confident that character 2 would not be able to gather the strength, the energy, the will to fight him/her. Character 1 had made a very sad mistake upon his/her judgment of character 2. Again, another blast of the air caused character 2 to close his eyes. (paragraph 2)

(this post explains what happens as Character 1 attacks and what character 2 does. Post like these should overlap.) In this brief instant, Character 1 started to charge straight for character 2. Stepping back and to the side, character 2 caused Character 1's charge to be altered and slowed him down, just a fraction of an instant. Character 2 brought his/her own sword up and met Character 1's slash. Nearly having the blade crushed into his/her skull, placed character 2 into action mode. Character 2 bucked the blade of character 1's sword up, out of range of character 2's head. (paragraph 3)

Character 2 thusly pushed the hilt of his sword into the exposed area of the chest of Character 1. Character 1 was pushed a few steps away from character 2. Having knocked some wind out of character 1. Character 2 pulled his blade up in front of his chest, knowing too well that the next smack of Character 1's blade will be harder and full of rage. And so the next smack of character 1's blade nearly knocked character's 2 sword out of his/her hands. (paragraph 4)

Character 2 swung around and caught character 1 off guard to the right side. Cutting into the flesh, it was not very deep, but still enough to cause to bleeding. Character 2 was sure he nicked some of the muscle tissue there, which incased a series of important veins. If character 2 did not finish off character 1 quickly, character 1 would bleed to death. Character 2 pushed away and made sure that he was out of character 1's sword range. (paragraph 5)

See how you actually get a nice visual from it? Its got flow and speed about it, but specifically you can see what is going on. Character 1's post doesn't show how, where, or when character 1 attacked character 2. So Character 2 filled in the blanks, this is being creative. But if one looked at it black and white, some of you might call it "power playing".

It's not power playing because it give Character 1 a chance to fight back or parry the cut. You see, posts are not always set in stone. You just have to realize when and where to put the not set in stone, in stone. :3

Godmoding:

My Definition: Godmoding is a more extensive mode than what moding is. It is where you have a character that is immortal or can't die from a serious wound that has been inflicted upon them. Basically a "God". It can also mean that the character has "God" on his side. Such as "God defends Character 1 from attack" or "God has granted the power or healed Character 1." Just another cowardly way to try and "win" the battle.

Example:

Character 1:

Coughs, but looks up at character 2. "You think you can hurt me? I AM IMMORTAL! Impervious (word will probably not be used in a newbie's post, but I like it...) to wounds!"

How utterly ridiculous! Character 1's post was quite shorter than Character 2's post. Which means automatically the Character 2's post is a hit (but not a mode, since Character 1 had his chance of parrying). (I'll explain fighting in another chapter. Maybe I should have started with that. Lol. )

You can either state that the person who is using Character 1 is Godmoding that automatically means that you win the battle (which will piss them off and they will get angry at you. But just keep stating that he lost, and if you want you can quote me/link him to this tutorial. ).

After a while, offer him to make his post up again, so that he'll feel "comforted" that he'll have another shot to mode on you (oh the joys). I guess basically I'm telling you that you'll have to be patient as we all know, nobody likes losing. You'll just have to keep trying to teach him, he's just a newbie and he probably doesn't know very much about rping. So try to keep a level head.

Power Playing:

My definition: It is when someone else, another mun, or the person your rping with role-plays your character doing something that you wouldn't want them to be doing. Like hitting themselves, or peeing their pants (: : rolls her eyes: : ).

Please don't get your panties in a wad if someone says in their post that you looked a certain way or small simple things that might have happened. Power Playing is basically a forced control of your character, like making them walk around, say stuff, do things, or take punishment/hits (that you didn't type out yourself).

Remember, Role Playing is more or less 70% mental imaging and 30% typing.

Example:

Character 1:

Character 2's blow affected him little, but wouldn't slow him down. So Character 1 smiled, trying to cover up his pain. Character 2 then lowered his weapon and stepped closer to character 1 offering a peace treaty. But little did character 2 know that character 1 was not about to accept such a thing. With a flash of the blade, character 2 fell to the ground, headless.

That's pretty extreme, power playing could be something as simple as Character 2 tripped on a branch, Character 2 hit his head, or character 2 scratched himself in the crotch area. It's up to you the owner of Character 2 to say "Hey, I don't want my character doing yada yada yada." Or "My character isn't taking that hit." Then you should politely ask that the other person to change their post. If you demand, you might get into a fight and who wants all that drama over one lousy post? I mean really. If you don't want your character doing something, please say something.

Some people just fill in what they see in their heads and if you don't see it that way, then say something. Don't be afraid to say things to other people. It's about co-running the rp.

Overview:

Moding, Godmoding, and PowerPlaying are bad.

Chapter 2) Character Design

Characters are not simple beings, because humans, vampires, etc all have their own personalities, traits, clothing styles, hair styles, eye coloring, tattoos (or no) and scars, and most importantly, you created them. Are you a simple person? Are you two dimensional? Do you not have a personality and all the good stuff in between? Try to think of these characters as an extension of you. You give them a little piece of your soul as you type them out (Lol, metaphorically speaking) and breath life into them with ever caress of a word in your post.

How I start my post may differ from how you start yours, but it's all good, you know because as long as you think about it before you type and all. ^__^

I like making dynamic characters, but I never have an image for a character until I start typing. I usually start with the setting and the setting is what gets me into creative mode (not like an attack, lol. Like "sleep mode" on your computer) which jumps starts me on the image, look, and feel of my character. So say the setting was a "happy" setting, like say a big field of flowers or something like that. My character(s) would range from probably a small child to a pixie to even an animal. If the setting was say a "hip" city, then it might be an "underground artist" to an "entertainer." It just depends on the setting (which includes the mood). Yes, everything and anything can be roleplayed. Once I roleplayed a piece of chicken (to show that I could) and it was both fun and awesome at the same time. It is easy to play the same character over and over again, just change their clothes and maybe their hair color. It takes skill to be adaptive and creative.

So I guess this is where I try and label out everything that -should- be covered in a character, but I'm human and there is always room for error. So please include as much as you want in your character. It helps you to not only "wear" that character but it helps other people your role playing with see your character.

1) Character's personality.

I think this is the MOST IMPORTANT PIECE OF THE CHARACTER EVAR! You should try asking yourself what kind of character you want to role-play. Is this character someone you want people to hate or to love? Is this character fun-loving and friendly or are they a loner and prefer to be by themselves? Is this character like you or not like you (as in moral/ethics)? What would they sound like? Move like? Are they bullheaded and stubborn, or passive? Are they passive aggressive? Do they like challenges? Do they work hard in everything they do or are they lazy? You should always try several different qualities about a personality in one setting, though if you're a beginner you might want to try something simple and easy, so that you can get used to typing (especially if you can't SPELL OUT WORDS.)

Jez, to think I forgot this. Lol, everything IC needs to be spelled out! Unless it's numbers larger than ten, then you don't have to spell it out. Anyway, continuing on:

Once you have your character's personality, the rest will pretty much fall in place (or at least that's what happens for me. xP)

2) Character's Mini-History

The character always should have a past. It could be from the last two days, or it could be from the last 100 years. It doesn't matter, just as long as it has some sort of past. Why? It establishes a sort of realism about your character. Everyone has a past and everyone has a future. It's just the present that we are working on. So it makes the character seem more "real." Think about it, your character will know how to speak with the other characters, right? Well that's because you're already giving them a past, a past in which they learned how to walk, talk, respond to emotions, where they've thought about things, where they've gotten bias on issues, etc. There's so many things that people already assume your character knows how to do from the moment you start your post. That's immediate. It means that your character has an "assumed" past, but it's what you tell us about their past that gives us insight into the character.

In any case, let's try not to make a little afternoon drama about the character. People grow tired of listening to someone's character's life which is filled with "bad" things like a father who beats them, and he is addicted to watching ****ography, junk like that just gets boring after a while. No one wants to listen to the "Sad-Mary-sue/Gary-stu" which is basically a person who has a perfectly tragic life.

A character's past should be as dynamic as the personality that was carved by it. Like say you have a character who's a rugged cowboy, how'd he become so rugged? What did he do this morning (rugged cowboys drink their coffee black. )? Even if it's a small window glimpse into the character's life in the morning, it just makes the character seem just a bit more realistic.

3) The Character's Physical Looks.

If your character has some sort of rough and tumble history and/or personality, then perhaps he/she should have some sort of scars (perhaps from falling down too much, not necessiarily from fighting). Not that it happens all the time, but scars make a person or rather a character seem a bit more human, because they can be injured when attacked (by someone who is above their skill). Hair style, eyes, skin tones all show family decent/ethnic background. It's ok if you mix and match (such as blue eyes with a black skin tone) but that means that that person's history may be a mulatto, in realistic terms if he or she is human. Try to be realistic, but it's ok to mix and match. :3

Also try branching out from what you usually do. Say you usually rp a girl who's about twenty, she's white and she has red hair, green eyes. Try changing it up, like make it a boy, or change the skin tone, hair and eye color. Remember this is about not being repetitive. Because once you get stuck in a rut, you'll be too uncomfortable to change out of your comfort zone. But what about clothing? People often forget about clothing in their first entrance post. It's almost like they believe that their character -should- be naked. Don't forget clothing. It's very expressive of that person, and it again brings a more realistic approach to people

If your character is very flamboyant, you should probably have flamboyant clothing, but not so loud that the colors and such doesn't match. But something like perhaps "hello kitty hair clips." Or "Wearing a red and blue stripped shirt", etc these things are small, but have a loud reach to the audience. Try being creative, but remember kids, people can only wear some many things at one time. ^__^ Also lots of detailing on the clothes (not to an extreme amount now) is also very good. And if you ever take your entrance post to an artist to draw from, they are more likely going to try what you picture in your head.

My rants about characters

And please girls/guys, respect a player's wishes. If he/she has a gay male character, he's gay. He doesn't like females; he's not going cyber with you. If the character's straight, don't try to flirt with him as a male character. I'm tired of hearing males whine about how some girl came up to them in a male character when they weren't gay and tried to get them to cyber. Ok? /end of rant.

For those of you, who are just trying to have sex through rping, please just stop reading this at all. You don't want to get better; you just want to have some live action erotic fiction scrolling across your screen. It's annoying and a waste of my time and yours for you even to be here at all. Cybering is illegal for teenagers, and I hate it when people use rping to get sex./rant

For those of you, who think that being a demon every time is awesome-sause, it's not. Demons could be tormented creatures who have mental issues and/or body issues. I wonder why most “demons" that these “holy person-a-s-" slay in most mangas/animes are butt ass ugly. I mean look at Inuyasha for a moment, yes there are "demons" who are "sexy" (aka they look more human), but when they turn into their full furry demon form they aren't that are they? No. They are vicious and would kill you if they ever met you. Demon can be angry creatures. So next time you choose to rp as a demon, think about it./rant

Half, triple, more than that BREEDs. Now, come on people, I ask you. How can a werewolf and a vampire really mate and produce offspring? Werewolves change into beasts under the full moon, Vampire do not. Werewolves can walk in the sun, Vampire cannot. Werewolves can eat almost anything (solids), Vampire need blood/only drink blood. They are two separate species of "animal." They aren't compatible. And even if you had a half breed, they would be like well a mule. Not very powerful (just enough to say that they are better than the normal vampire/werewolf) and they probably have physical deformity. Just like humans and demons, (Inuyasha example again) there was an episode with a demon halfbreed who was as butt ugly as possible (but as nice as possible). Half breeds are not always appealing. Be realistic with your half breeding, ok?

Chapter 4) Entrances (Playwrite (Character Sheet) vs. Novelistic)

Ok, lemme first say this. I'm anti-playwrite (You'll find out why and what I think as soon as you scroll down), so I may be a little biased to you people who enjoy using playwrites. But at least hear me out, ok, I mean, you've read all of my other stuff on role playing (I hope), so why stop now?


I call it the "Playwrite Format", but most people think of it as a "Profile Skeleton." Here's my reasons why I call it a "Playwrite."

Playwrite Format: It is the listing out of stats of your character. (An example is below) I call it playwrite because it reminds me of those things that are in front of plays, the character index, which lists out the name and what have yous of certain characters. I don't spell it Playwright because that would be like a person who writes plays, and not an entrance that you'd write. (Confused, yet? Lol.)

Name:
Age:
Sex:
Race:
etc.

1) I find this belittling to the other people in the rp that you happen to be entering in. Why? Because it just sort of feels like that you think that the other people won't be able to comprehend what your character looks because they can't read english. I find it sort of rude. Obviously, they can read just perfectly fine or else they wouldn't be on an english speaking forum.

2) I find it very lazy. It tells me that you don't have the imagination or the will to put forth an effort (when the other people probably have put an effort into their rp) in to your entrance post. It just is very lazy to me.

3) In chatrooms, like AOL's or YIM's, people do not use the playwrite entrance formatting when entering. So, you may be verbally attacked if you use it. And then you might get upset and then quit all together. And I don't want you to have to go through that kind of drama, you know?

4) To me, it doesn't give me a mental image at all Say you give me a (: :cough animecough: : )picture of the character. I am not going to be able to picture that character moving around. And it's very forgettable. I see several different anime pictures every day, mostly in siggies on Gaia (and they are all like "This is my rp character"), and almost every anime picture blends together. It doesn't have any life in it, you know? It's very two dimensional and it doesn't show any of you in it.

5) Entrances are meant to introduce the character. Not ID him. I mean think about it, if you were to sit down and write stats down, you'd use that format. But it doesn't introduce the character. It doesn't say where the character is at, what exactly he's been doing, and what he currently is thinking about. It has almost no personality, and is very um, how should I put this, stand off-ish; it's not like a real person, you know?

And I think that Number 5 has a real point to it. I guess now I should be asking, why are you in an rp if you don't want to put any feeling into it? I mean, I guess I just can't comprehend what is so good about that. I mean, yea it's easier, but that would be a number 2, you're being lazy. If people actually tried, I bet everyone would have a greater respect for roleplaying, than they do.

Examples:

Like say you entered with a Playwrite format.

Name: Character 3
Age: 17
Looks: picture
Bio: Lived with family until 5, left town, returns back after few years on own.

-Website error-

This happens a lot. And it's mostly because people are direct linking from another website that isn't supposed to be hosting pictures that you can link off of. Now what? I really can't picture your character at all. It's just a name, an age, and a bio. That does nothing for me to put a picture in my head. Relying on pictures to get what you want across is a very sticky situation, even in art. But role playing is as stated before 70% mental and 30% typing. It's hard enough trying to give people a mental image with words, but it's even harder to keep that mental image after they've seen a still picture.

I really feel that playwriting should be banned off the face of the planet, but it's not. And people, it's ok to have a stat sheet of your character to look off when you type out your entrance. It's ok to send in one to an rp thread leader (so the person knows basically what you're going to type out), but it's not ok to use it as a substitute for an entrance.

Entrances are like the beginning chapter in a book. Are you going to read a book if the first chapter is just character stats and then it jumps right into the plot line without an explanation of anything beyond the character's name, age, bio (which usually is short and means zilch), and a vague picture or words like hair color? Are you?

Novelistic Format:

I call it Novelistic, basically I made the word up. Like playwrite. I'm awesome I know. It's just the paragraph form of the listing of stats. (You'll see what I mean in a second) It, personally, brings you closer to the character and gives you a better understand of what the character “is”. It’s three dimensional and it's what starts you off to get you going in the rp.

It's almost the most important thing in an rp, the entrance post. I say almost, because every post is important, but as stated above it introduces that character.

Character 4 yawned slight, looking bored as he sat on the bus. It crossed over, into the city's limits. She had business to do there. Hopefully her client would be there. She looked at her watch. "8:30am, already? Hmm.."

Character 4 looked in the mirror that the driver used to view the people in the bus. She looked about 30, but was aged about 38, she was getting old. She should settle down and have some children. But her lifestyle was too hectic. Since she had been little, she always wanted to improve the life of the world. This city polluted and killed the ozone layer. She hoped that soon, she would be able to change that, with her client.

She looked back at those black pools she had for eyes, they had some wrinkles, but not noticeable.. Well not too noticeable. Her tanned skin reflected her time out, working with people, helping to clean up parks and restore old building to good as new condition. She was strong, but still weak in a way that gave her image, a younger more interesting characteristic about her. Her brown hair, cut short, gave her the look of a tough business woman, in fact a tough woman all around. She wasn't the type to just roll over for people; they had to prove their worthiness to her. Her gray business suit complemented her nicely, even though she didn't have any curves, like some of the more famous women of the world. She still made her best of times.

The bus rolled to a stop and she moved out, filling out along with the others. She got her two bags and walked out of the station, read to catch a cab.


Character 4 explained in great detail about herself, how she got in the city, what she was doing in the city, and what she looked like. Even some Bio. This is a good entrance (it though is very erm, how shall I say it, average. It's not the best, but I think I can expect this from people who've learned how to lengthen their posts from Chap 3.)

Now, if you want you can look over this rp, and look for the stats, let's try it, shall we?

Name: Character 4
Age: about 38 (Looked about 30)
Sex: Female
Skin Tone: tanned, slightly wrinkled
Eyes: black
Hair: brown, cut short
Personality: She was strong, but still weak in a way that gave her image, a younger more interesting characteristic about her. Her brown hair, cut short, gave her the look of a tough business woman, in fact a tough woman all around. She wasn't the type to just roll over for people; they had to prove their worthiness to her.
Current Position: Bus Station

But, can you see how the Novelistic style brings out more of her personality? And gives you a better mental image? It's all about the mental image, my friends, all about the mental image.

Also, I don't want to set a number of posts for an entrance. Because I know that there might be (or I could just be hoping) some brand new people who've never rped before in their life and they probably wouldn't be able to handle the pressure of making a five post entrance. Basically, it's when you feel that you're finished with the entrance. That you don't need to go into any more detail, you've said what could have said and that's it.

Overview:

Mental Image is Important
Playwrite = No mental image or very little
Novelistic = Better mental image (with good paragraphs)

Chapter 5) Fighting


Ok, I guess here's where I put in something about morals or something like that. In the first place, why do you guys need to fight? I mean what is the point to sling it out through words? Or are you just sparring to spar? Or are you trying to prove that you're some sort of Rping God or something by beating people's characters with words? I mean if you think about it, that's all rping is, is a bunch of words with some mental images. And besides, people are not about to just follow what you'll try to make happen. Everyone wants their OWN characters to win. So it's kind of pointless to even be fighting with anyone unless they are some sort of N00b or something. And you know that just shows your weak in the end, because you won't be able to "fight with the big kids." It's a never ending cycle of ****, IMO. It doesn't do anyone any real good, unless they are using it to practice for a novel or something, like I did. But sparring is what can get you there, not trying to pummel the jank out of someone else's character, you know?

Anyway, enough ranting. Let's start with our lesson.

Ok, I guess simple fighting unspoken rules:

1) If you challenge someone else, that means whatever they want to do, you do. You are the challenge; you don't get to pick the place, the style, or any of rules unless you're asked by your challengee (yes that's not a word, but you know what I mean).

Like for example, Say you see this really annoying, whining person who claims to have the best fighting style ever, and you decide "Hey, I'm going to go and teach them a lesson." Well, if they are a really good roleplayer, they'll probably try to dissuade you from fighting with them, but you know there are some people who take up every challenge they get. Personally, there were times where I couldn't fight because I didn't have the time or anything. So, if you're really persistent, they might set up a time on the interwebs for the fight if they don't have the time now. Don't take it as if they are backing off, and don't take it if they don't show up that they are so cowardly. People do have lives off the computer.

Now if you were in a fight, or whatever, like boxing for example. Do you usually get to pick the place if you challenge? I don't think so (but, again I don't box. ). It's just common curtsey in a fight. And if the Boxer doesn't want gloves, you'll box without gloves won't you? (Because you're pride is on the line or whatever. ) So you're at their mercy. And they can control how much posting is required for certain things. Like, say you usually do about three paragraphs, right? Well they can say the minimum for an attack is five, ten, fifteen paragraphs. AND they can double, triple, etc that amount for parries and dodges. Fighting is very complicated without even talking about magic. Which by the way, is a very, very dangerous ground to walk upon, but I'll get to that later.

But don't be afraid to back out of the fight, because you're out of your league. And please don't be like "Hehe I can take anyone." There is always a bigger fish, and a better role player. People who are elite you'll find are either one extreme or another, they are either VERY Cocky. They are the elite and that's what they are and if they want to flash their "leet skillz," they will. And then there's the very nice, understanding, and calm elite. Who aren't flashy and will understand if you back out. The cocky will just try to get a rise out of you and lead you by your anger into a fight where they might desecrate your character, the character you worked so hard to create now.

But either way, know your limits. If you can't take them, back out. They'll forget about it and go on with their lives, just like you will with yours. It is the interwebs, people.

2) Know the style you are most comfortable fighting in. Some people like speed, some people like turn base logic, whatever. It doesn't matter either way, know what you are most comfortable in.

(Did you think I wasn't going to explain them? )

Alright, so in AOL, Yahoo, Trillian (I Assume) Chats there are two types of fighting styles (though many degrees of the styles, so you'll have to ask the person who sounds the most elite which ones there are and have them explain to you what each one is.)

But basically there is Speed:

Speed is like it sounds, very fast. You're just typing stuff and you're going bam bam bam. And it has FAR different rules than regular roleplaying.

You know all that stuff about moding that I talked about before? Yeah FORGET IT in speed. It's all about landing the attacks before someone can dodge them. So you might have seen it before.

Example:

<C1> : : Hits C2: :
<C2> : : Dojs C1's attack.: :
<C2> : : Repeatedly Hits C2.: :
<C2> : : Kicks C1 in the face : :
<C2> : : Knocks C1 Down: :
<C1> : : Side step.: :
<C2> : : Round house kick.: :
<C2> : : Face plant.: :
<C2> : : Steps on C1's throat and chokes.: :

Now you've got to imagine that this is in a chat and it's very, very fast. I mean I've seen people who spend HOURS fighting like this and each of them are like super fast and just even with each other. It's like RAWR dag! It freaks me out, I can't do it. I'm not a very fast typer, and I'm not a very good speller. Unless I whip out the Micro Word. Sometimes you'll see people write Hit behind an attack, that means you can't dodge it any more, it hit you're character.

Yeah, safe to say I dun like it.


And then there's Turn Base.

Turn Base is basically, you set a minimum amount (an agreed amount) for paragraphs for each post.
Turn base is already used in forums, and it's the only way you're going to be able to Fight. I mean sit there and try to picture how to speed fight in a forum? It just doesn't work.

Example: (Minimum Post, 1 paragraph)

Character 1 hits Character 2 with his sledge hammer and breaks his nose. Then he steps aside so that Character 2 can't attack him/her.
(Notice, Character 1 is moding)

Character 2, moves his head to the side, so that he doesn't get the brunt force of the attack. It barely nicks the tip of character 2's nose. As Character 1 sets to the right, Character 2 steps forward, and slashes to the right with his sword.

(And I'm bored so I'll be stopping now.)

Some Good advice:

1) Set down minimum paragraph that you can at least achieve.

Paragraphs: 3-5 sentences

Posts: 2 Paragraphs

Attacks: 7 Paragraphs

Parrys/Blocks: 10 (always higher than attacks, Parrys are when the swords knock away the attack of the other sword or he does something to block the attack)

Magic/Summoning: 35 (Always higher than everything else, people like to cheat with magic, so it's best to just ignore them and so no magic)

Also, you might just want to outlaw Magic. It's ok to say to the other person while discussing the fight before hand (in fact, I hope you state these):

No Potions
No Magical Items that enhance character
No Enhancing Amulets and Jewelry


Anything that would give another character an unfair advantage.

It's also good to mention something about Moding and the consequences. But try not to be too hard on it, because you have to mode a little otherwise, how would you ever get in an attack? :S

Overview:

DF doesn't like fighting that much.
Reread the tutorial.

Chapter 6) Misc


Well this is the Section that I post random stuff about role playing. So isn't that kewl?



Though someone asked me to do this, and should be put under requests, I was already considering doing this. So it is alright.

Mary-sues and Gary-stus:

What are Mary-sures/Gary-stus? They are characters that are perfect in every single way. They have no bad qualities, unless I guess being a drama queen/king or being overly kind is considered to be a bad quality. They are beautiful people. Perfect eye color, perfect hair color, just the right skin color, like they were carved from the hands of Gods instead of by mere people. They have the perfect life, too. They come from a loving family, they wear all the perfect clothes, they have no faults, they probably never get into trouble. They are always correct, they are devoted to whatever religion they are in perfectly. They do not have one single thing out of place on their bodies, in their lives, in anything they do.

PERFECT, PERFECT, PERFECT in every way, shape, and form.

They are sooo perfectly boring. There is nothing interesting about them. There are a million perfect characters out there; your perfect character is not any different from any other perfect character. These characters are the perfect, preppy popular people that you see in every day life, in movies, in whatever. We love hating them because they are too perfect to be real.

And then we have the perfectly imperfect person.

They have a tragic past, they are loners, they are probably disgruntled. They do not like people. They do not have friends. They have animal companions, they love being by themselves all the time. They probably have an art/sketch book with them at all times. They listen to depressing music. They wear dark clothes.They hate people who are preppy. They get into fights, which they always win or lose. They are completely underground. They are individuals. They do not like life. There is nothing enjoyable about the world. They do not want to have to be in a place, because of their tragic past.

They might even have a perfectly bad mental illness or are perfectly disabled.

They are utterly dull and overused. These characters are a dime a dozen more than even the perfect preppy popular ones that I just talked about. You see them in almost EVERY RP you read. In EVERY story you read. In EVERY piece of sad music you listen to. There is nothing new to them. Their past, abused by parents, bullied, no friends, cuts themselves. It is all the same. From character to character. It is just another face, another body shape. But it is the same exact principle.

These are the so called emos and gothics we love to read, because we can relate in some way, shape, or form. Perfectly imperfect.

Every person, it does not matter if you are the president to the slums working man, has had some good and bad. It is not all good, it is not all bad. You as the creator of your character have to find that middle ground where your character is imperfect, but not perfectly. And I think that a lot of people have serious problems trying to find this middle ground. They are so busy trying to not be perfect, that they go overboard in their imperfections.

In character design, I showed you, that there are many faces to one person. You have to be dynamic and show a couple sides to your character instead of just one. If your character is too perfect, make him or her a little flaw. Not a bunch of flaws. But just a few cracks to make that mask have another characteristic. Or even a random quality.

Perhaps the characters are obsessed with an animal, and wear them all the time. They have the socks, the panties, the shirts, the bracelets, the hair pins. (I mean after all they probably could afford it. ) Maybe they have something weird about them, I dunno, you decide.

If your character is too imperfect, give them something that is a nice quality or even an off the wall qualities. He/She is good at making friends with people. They wear yellow instead of black? Who knows, you decide.

Magic:

Now this is more for the fighting aspect, the reason I took it out from the fighting bit, was because I would rather see you people trying to win a spar with wordsinstead of spells. :3

Never assume your character is more powerful than another. The bad and good thing about magic, it is mysterious. We do not know how it works, what it is, or anything hardly about it, expect that it does stuff we want done.

Now, I have to ask, do you think that every character can do magic? Because I have seen people who try to get werewolves casting spells, and it is just ridiculous. If you are going to have a character that can do magic, let them be a magic user character. Someone who is been trained with magic.

Do you think that toddlers walk on the first try? Do you think that you would understand multiplication if you never learned what the numbers meant? It is the same way with everything.

If someone has not been trained, how likely are they able to do something? Do you not see in TV shows, or even in mangas/animes that the newbie to magic never does anything right? And there are characters that probably will not ever master magic or spells or anything.

And never assume that just because a character is mythical that they are automatically magical as well. Like I very much doubt that vampires, were-beasts, mermaids (to a point), and talking animals have very much to do with magic.

I mean let us break each kind of character down. Vampires, they do not like light, they drink blood, and have extraordinary abilities. But there is not anything magical about any of that, that's all sort of biological. Same with were-beasts (werewolves, werecats, what have you), all their abilities are biological. Mermaids, though some myths have them being able to grant wishes, mermaids aren't that magical either. They swim and can lure sailors to their deaths with their voices. And that's it. Talking animals, well, they can talk.

Humans, there are witches, but they've been trained or should be trained (>__> and know what they're doing (for the most part?). But is a normal person going to be able to stand in the middle of the street and summon the dead by magic, when they don't know how to?

Let's be realistic. No. Roleplaying is awesome for the imagination, but the problem is there is a point where believable and not believable reach a breaking point. And its times like these, where some odd ball character some how does magic without "knowing how to" and summons the dead (or what have you), that make me just want to reach over to my keyboard and tell the person I no longer wish to rp with them.

To me, it just seems like a cry for attention. If you want attention, do something productive (IMO) instead of trying to make your character/yourself the star of the rp. (Sorry if that's a little harsh)

When you're fighting, if and only if you have a character that can be assumed to have some sort of magic training, then you can use magic. But only if hasn't been blocked by the rules.

And even then Magic is very difficult to do. Usually people will boost up the post count, so that others won't even attempt to do magic in rps. It's just kind blarg.

I'd rather just be like the Harry Potter way : : wave the wand: : say some weird word and Poof it happens. But unless you're in a HP rp, I don't think it will be acceptable in a fight.



I can't think of anything else that I can discuss, so please, feel free to start replying. : 3 I won't be posting another chapter, unless someone requests something from me. x3

I thank all the people who took the time to read this. I hope this helped some of you out.

Overview:

Mary-sues/Gary-stus = bad
Magic = Complicated

*~* please note i didn't type this, my brain too small to even read it without